Large bare-tailed armadillo
| Large bare-tailed armadillo | ||||||||||||
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| Cabassous tatouay | ||||||||||||
| ( Desmarest , 1804) |
The Big naked-tailed armadillo ( Cabassous tatouay ) is the largest representative of cabassous and lives in the central part of South America . It occurs both in dry open landscapes and in more humid forests. The armadillo species is widespread, but lives largely in underground burrows and is nocturnal. As a result, it is rarely observed. Many aspects of the life of the great bare-tailed armadillo are therefore unknown. According to the IUCN , its existence is not endangered.
features
Habitus
The great bare-tailed armadillo reaches a head-torso length of 36 to 49 cm (average 45.8 cm). The long and narrow tail can be 15 to 20 cm long. The weight varies between 3.4 and 6.4 kg, making this the largest species of bare-tailed armadillos. The muzzle is short and wide, the eyes are small. The widely spaced ears have a funnel-like shape and are very long at 4.4 cm. The triangular-shaped head shield, which consists of around 48 small bone plates, is characteristic. The back armor covers the entire body down to the limbs and is 38 cm long and 35 cm wide, measured across the curve. It is divided into a fixed shoulder and pelvis, between which there are 12 to 14 movable ligaments, which consist of an average of 30 to 31 bone platelets in a row. Both shoulder and pelvic armor also have several rows of bony plates. The former has 22 to 29 per row, the latter 29 to 8 of such platelets (in each case from front to back). Additional bone plates are located on the neck and very loosely scattered on the tail. The carapace as a whole is mostly reddish brown, rarely black, but due to frequent sand cover the animal often has a yellowish hue. Hair is only on the sides of the body, but it can be quite long. The belly is gray in color and mostly hairless. The short limbs end in front and back in five-pointed feet, which are clawed. The claws of the front feet are relatively long, with the middle sticking out clearly. When running, the great bare-tailed armadillo moves on the entire sole of the hind feet, while the front feet touch only with the claws. The length of the rear foot averages 8.2 cm.
Skeletal features
The skull is on average 11 cm long, on the cheekbones the width is around 5.6 cm, the height is 4.2 cm. The rostrum is short and wide, the lower jaw slender and low. The teeth do not correspond to the normal tooth formations of mammals , so that the tooth formula differs significantly. There are 9 molar-like tooth formations per jaw arch (36 in total), which are long and narrow and reach dimensions of 2.8 to 3.8 mm. The entire row of teeth is 3.4 to 4.1 cm in length in the upper and 3.4 to 3.8 cm in the lower jaw. The structure of the forearms is striking: the ulna is up to 6.8 cm long, but 3.8 cm of this is the upper joint end ( olecranon ). Such massive joint ends on the forearm are typical of animals with a predominantly burrowing way of life.
Sensory performances and vocalizations
The great bare-tailed armadillo has a very good sense of smell . The only known utterance is a pig-like grunt that male animals utter. Females hardly seem to make any sounds.
distribution and habitat
The distribution area includes the central and southeastern Brazil , the east of Paraguay and the northeast of Argentina , whereby it also occurs in the north of Uruguay . Reports of the species from the central part of Argentina turned out to be false reports. The northernmost deposit is in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso , the southernmost in the Uruguayan department of Maldonado . The entire distribution area is given as around 2.3 million square kilometers, but the exact size is not known, as it has been confused with other species of the bare-tailed armadillos in the past.
The great bare-tailed armadillo inhabits mainly tropical lowlands. It uses closed forests, primarily Atlantic rainforests ( Mata Atlântica ), as well as the open Cerrado savannas and grasslands of the pampas as habitat, but it has also been observed in the wetlands of the Pantanal . Other habitats include secondary forests and partially moderately cultivated areas. In Argentina, the armadillo is more common in the forests along the Río Paraná than in the open areas of Mesopotamia .
Way of life
Refuge and enemy behavior
Information on the life of the great bare-tailed armadillo is rather sparse. The animal is solitary and nocturnal, and it also lives largely underground in caves it has dug itself. These are on average 21 cm wide, 15 cm high and 45 cm deep and protrude into the ground at an angle of almost 48 °. The burrows are mainly dug into the soft ground, with the long central claw of the forefoot being used to break small roots. The entrance to the burrows is turned away from the wind, as a rule an animal uses the shelter for a maximum of 24 hours; reuse has not yet been observed. Abandoned termite burrows are also used as hiding places. The animal also uses its good digging skills to avert danger by burrowing itself quickly, a process that only takes a few seconds. However, fleeing has also been observed, as well as searching for water points. The most important predators are large and larger cats , the most important predator is the puma , which covers more than 19% of its food requirements with the great bare-tailed armadillo. Remnants of the armadillo species could be detected in almost a quarter of all the excrement sites examined . The ocelot, which lives in the same area of distribution, is not known to hunt the great bare-tailed armadillo. When attacked by large predators, the back armor hardly protects the animal.
Nutrition and reproduction
Ants and termites form the basis of food for the great bare- tailed armadillo. In doing so, it breaks open their burrows with its front claws, but the food can also be ingested directly from the ground or from small tunnels that the insects use as hiking trails. A long tongue is helpful for ingesting the food; other invertebrates or soil can occasionally be swallowed with it. A good sense of smell is used to track down food. Little is known about the reproduction of the great bare-tailed armadillo, other than that usually only one young is born.
Parasites
As an external parasite could ticks of the genus Amblyomma be detected. Endoparasites are with roundworms so Aspidodera and protozoa such as Toxoplasma gondii known, as was infection with Leptospira reported bacteria.
Systematics
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Internal systematics of the armadillos according to Gibb et al. 2015
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The great bare-tailed armadillo belongs to the genus of bare- tailed armadillos ( Cabassous ), to which three other species are counted. The cabassous are members of the group of the armadillos (Dasypoda), while within that in the family of Chlamyphoridae and in the subfamily of Tolypeutinae provided. The closest related forms are the giant armadillos ( Priodontes ) and the spherical armadillos ( Tolypeutes ). The Tolypeutinae form within the Chlamyphoridae the sister taxon of the Chlamyphorinae , which include the gullet . The Euphractinae , another subfamily with, among others, the bristle armadillos ( Chaetophractus ) and the six-banded armadillo ( Euphractus ) are in the relationship sequence just outside. According to molecular genetic studies, the Tolypeutinae and Chlamyphorinae separated in the Oligocene 33 million years ago, while the Tolypeutinae have been subject to greater diversification since the early Miocene . Fossil evidence of the great bare-tailed armadillo is not known.
No subspecies of the great bare-tailed armadillo are distinguished, so the species is monotypical. The scientific first description was made in 1804 by Anselme Gaëtan Desmarest , but this no copy was available, but he used as the basis of the report Tatou tatouay , the Félix de Azara in the book 1801 Essais sur l'Histoire Naturelle des Quadrupèdes de la Province du Paraguay had released . Desmarest used the name Loricatus tatouay . For the first time in 1957 Ángel Cabrera used the current name Cabassous tatouay correctly. The species name tatouay is a phonetic rendering of the local Tupi or Guaraní word tatu ai , which denotes the great bare-tailed armadillo in their languages.
Threat and protection
The great bare-tailed armadillo is partly used by the indigenous population as a source of food; studies from 1980 to 1996 among the Aché in the Mbaracayú biosphere reserve in Paraguay revealed a total of 24 captured individuals during this period, which corresponds to a meat mass of 130 kg or 0.8% of those consumed Corresponds to biomass. The greatest threat is the conversion of the habitat into agricultural areas , especially in the Cerrado region of Brazil and in the coastal forests, which destroys the burrows of this underground animal species, but the pesticides used continue to poison food resources. Furthermore, fire clearance is one of the greater hazards.
Overall, the great bare-tailed armadillo is listed by the IUCN as "not endangered" ( least concern ), but due to its widespread use, but overall low population density and the predominantly underground and nocturnal way of life, the species is rarely seen, which in many regions leads to data gaps about it Occurrence leads. Experts assume that the population has decreased by around 30% since around 2002 and advocate a higher risk classification. The great bare-tailed armadillo is native to several national parks, including the Emas National Park in the Cerrado of Brazil and the Iguazú National Park and the San Antonio National Park in Argentina.
literature
- Virginia Hayssen: Cabassous tatouay (Cingulata: Dasypodidae). Mammalian Species 46 (909), 2014, pp. 28-32
- Mariella Superina and Agustín Manuel Abba: Chlamyphoridae (Chlamyphorid armadillos). In: Don E. Wilson and Russell A. Mittermeier (eds.): Handbook of the Mammals of the World. Volume 8: Insectivores, Sloths and Colugos. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona 2018, pp. 48-71 (p. 70) ISBN 978-84-16728-08-4
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Flávio Kulaif Ubaid, Leonardo Siqueira Mendonça and Fábio Maffei: Contribuição ao Conhecimento da Distribuição Geográfica do Tatu-de-Rabo-Mole-Grande Cabassous tatouay no Brasil: Revisão, Status e Comentários sobre a Espécie. Edentata 11 (1), 2010, pp. 22-28
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i Paul Smith: Greater naked-tailed armadillo Cabasssous tatouay (Desmarest, 1804). Mammals of Paraguay 13, 2008, pp. 1-9
- ↑ a b c d e Virginia Hayssen: Cabassous tatouay (Cingulata: Dasypodidae). Mammalian Species 46 (909), 2014, pp. 28-32
- ↑ a b c d e Mariella Superina and Agustín Manuel Abba: Chlamyphoridae (Chlamyphorid armadillos). In: Don E. Wilson and Russell A. Mittermeier (eds.): Handbook of the Mammals of the World. Volume 8: Insectivores, Sloths and Colugos. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona 2018, pp. 48-71 (p. 70) ISBN 978-84-16728-08-4
- ^ SF Vizcaíno and N. Milne: Structure and function in armadillo limbs (Mammalia: Xenarthra: Dasypodidae). Journal of Zoology 257, 2002, pp. 257, 117-127
- ↑ Alejandro Fallabrino and Elena Castiñeira: Situación de Los Edentados en Uruguay. Edentata 7, 2006, 1-3
- ^ A b E. Gonzalez and D. Hernández: Cabassous tatouay. Edentata 1 (2), 2010, p. 142
- ↑ a b Mariella Superina and Augusín M. Abba: Cabassous tatouay. In: IUCN: IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.2. ( [1] = last accessed on January 8, 2013)
- ↑ Tracy S. Carter and Christiane D. Encarnação: Characteristics and Use of Burrows by Four Species of Armadillos in Brazil. Journal of Mammalogy 64, 1983, pp. 103-108
- ↑ Kent H. Redford: The Edentates of the Cerrado. Edentata 1, 1994, pp. 4-10
- ↑ Rodrigo Costa da Silva, Carolina Ballarini Zetun, Sandra de Moraes Gimenes Bosco, Eduardo Bagagli, Patrícia Sammarco Rosa and Hélio Langoni: Toxoplasma gondii and Leptospira spp. infection in free-ranging armadillos. Veterinary Parasitology 157, 2008, pp. 291-293
- ↑ a b Gillian C. Gibb, Fabien L. Condamine, Melanie Kuch, Jacob Enk, Nadia Moraes-Barros, Mariella Superina, Hendrik N. Poinar and Frédéric Delsuc: Shotgun Mitogenomics Provides a Reference Phylogenetic Framework and Timescale for Living Xenarthrans. Molecular Biology and Evolution 33 (3), 2015, pp. 621-642
- ↑ Maren Möller-Krull, Frédéric Delsuc, Gennady Churakov, Claudia Marker, Mariella Superina, Jürgen Brosius, Emmanuel JP Douzery and Jürgen Schmitz: Retroposed Elements and Their Flanking Regions Resolve the Evolutionary History of Xenarthran Mammals (Armadillos, Anteaters and Sloths). Molecular Biology and Evolution 24, 2007, pp. 2573-2582
- ↑ Frederic Delsuc, Mariella Superina, Marie-Ka Tilak, Emmanuel JP Douzery and Alexandre Hassanin: Molecular phylogenetics unveils the ancient evolutionary origins of the enigmatic fairy armadillos. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 62, 2012, 673-680
- ↑ Frédéric Delsuc, Sergio F Vizcaíno and Emmanuel JP Douzery: Influence of Tertiary paleoenvironmental changes on the diversification of South American mammals: a relaxed molecular clock study within xenarthrans. BMC Evolutionary Biology 4 (11), 2004, pp. 1-13
- ↑ Paul Smith: Assessing the assessment, the relevance of the 2006 Paraguayan mammal Red List to the reality of Xenarthra conservation in 2012. Edentata 13, 2012, pp. 18-28
- ↑ James Sanderson and Leandro Silveira: Observations of Xenarthra in the Brazilian Cerrado and Guyana. Edentata 5, 2003, pp. 40-44
- ↑ John M. Aguiar: Species Summaries and Species Discussions. Edentata 6, 2004, pp. 3-26
Web links
- Cabassous tatouay in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2006. Posted by: Abba & Superina, 2006. Accessed January 8, 2013.